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by Orchid Singson

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The Griffith Observatory is one of those places that I love visiting just for the scenery alone. Even the parking lot has breathtaking panoramas of the Hollywood sign and downtown Los Angeles. But the views get even better as you climb up the stairs to the roof!

I'd really like to stop by after sunset one of these days. It would be so much fun to spend an hour or two stargazing up on the observatory's roof. Plus there's nothing like seeing Los Angeles lit up at night. Although, it looks pretty great in the daytime too.

PS I tried my hand at making another video, but it's pretty short. Enjoy!

Earlier this week I made a field trip over to the Huntington Library. Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens out in San Marino. I haven't been there in a few months, plus they just recently opened a brand new visitor center with a larger store, coffee shop, and admissions area! This was also my first time visiting during the winter season which, trust me, is much more pleasant than visiting during the summer (unless you enjoy spending time outdoors in 100 degree weather haha).

There's so much to see that it's hard to cover everything in just one afternoon. The Huntington has four galleries filled with art and 120 acres of beautifully-themed gardens. These photos are just from a few of them (Rose, Chinese, Japanese, the Conservatory building, and Desert) but trust me, there is PLENTY more to see when you go in person. I was especially surprised by the wide variety of plants in the Desert Garden. That area is a heaven for succulent fans like myself! I'm ashamed to say that I've always skipped that particular garden in the past (I'm not sure why! It's amazing!).

Anyways, if you're in the area and looking for a leisurely activity for the day, I'd definitely recommend stopping by The Huntington. Grab lunch at one of their cafes (the food from the Chinese Garden Tea House always smells delicious), stroll around the botanical gardens (there's twelve in all), and learn about some art all in one place! Plus you can take some great Instagram photos (I'm only half-kidding. Don't forget to put your phone down and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine!).

So I pretty much fail at life. While I was organizing all of my photo folders from 2014, I stumbled across these photos from my trip to Portland last March. I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT I FORGOT TO POST THEM!

So to pick up from a few months ago, after visiting Wahkeena Falls I drove 0.5 miles down the road to Multnomah Falls. I would just like to point out that I was terrified at this point because the road was narrow and it had recently SNOWED (southern California driver = useless in snow conditions).

Anyways, the drive through the snow was worth it because Multnomah Falls is gorgeous! The trail to the falls was covered in slippery ice and snow, but that didn't stop me (and a few other brave tourists) from heading up haha. Unfortunately we could only go so far because the bridge was closed down due to rock damage. It's been almost a year since I was there, so I'm hoping that the bridge has re-opened by now. I'd love to visit during the warmer months (when the trails aren't covered in snow) and hike to more waterfalls. This could be another trip that I add to my 2015 list!

These are not the original photos that I intended to make, but nevertheless I ended up with something amazing! First of all, I really wanted to shoot on brown craft paper but alas, Michael's was out of stock. So then I figured, why not try something new? This blue paper caught my eye AND it was super cheap at 99¢/sheet. So I took everything home and started shooting my usual flower shots, but they weren't turning out quite right. Next thing I know, I'm ripping up flower petals and cutting off stems and I was left with this beautiful mess. Needless to say, I'm really proud of how these images came out.

And if you're wondering about that random lemon photo, I photographed that simply because there was a huge bag of lemons sitting in our kitchen. My mom just harvested a ton of them from our backyard and I thought to myself, that shade of yellow against that shade of blue would look so good together! I liked it so much that I decided to throw it into this flower studies post!

On a more somber note, Paris has been on my mind a lot these past couple of days because of the tragic events that occurred over there. I have such a special place in my heart for that city and its people, and all I can say is that my thoughts/prayers/love/support are with them. #JeSuisCharlie

So of course my very first blog post of 2015 would involve dessert haha. I whipped up some snickerdoodle cookies for last night's New Year's celebration with my family. Thanks to a certain two cousins, the cookies were practically gone by the time I arrived (I dropped them off earlier in the afternoon). Not that I'm complaining - an empty plate is always a good sign for the cook haha.

Now that it's officially 2015, I'm looking forward to so many more travel adventures. I had the opportunity to see some incredible places in 2014, from my March trip through northern California and Portland, OR to my month-long stay in Paris. I made some crazy bucket list dreams come true and I want to do that again this year. Let's see where I end up!